Load sharing mechanism for Mobile Access Gateways in PMIPv6

Mobile Access Gateway (MAG) is a component of Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) which provides network-layer transparent mobility to mobile nodes (MN). MAG serves a local geographical area and mobile nodes in its vicinity may attach to it to get the mobility services from its controlling PMIPV6 domain. Since MAG is the point of attachment of mobile nodes, negotiated and guaranteed quality of service (QoS) is affected in case of service disruptions and overload of the MAG. To avoid/minimize the degradation of quality of service, we propose effective mechanisms to share the load of affected MAG with the MAG(s) that are working under normal conditions. We propose to handover certain mobile nodes to other MAGs depending upon their geographical serving area and current capacity. Furthermore, location of mobile node, its quality of service profile, direction of motion and its multi-interface capability are major factors in selecting the mobile nodes for handover.